


Cliché

by tornyourdress



Category: The OC RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24442816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tornyourdress/pseuds/tornyourdress
Summary: They know it's a cliché to hook up the actor playing your character's love interest. They do it anyway.
Relationships: Mischa Barton/OIivia Wilde





	Cliché

**Author's Note:**

> Written/set during s2 of The OC.

It’s a cliché to hook up with the person your character is with on screen. She thinks the fans sort of like the idea – they like the thought of Adam and Rachel being together, at any rate – but the actors tend to shy away from the people they have to kiss for the cameras. It’s not that hard to do, anyway – you can’t fantasise about someone when you’re cuddling with them over and over again with a whole crew watching. The mystery’s gone; you’re sick of it.

Everyone watches when Mischa and Olivia have a scene. Girl on girl action does strange things to people, but of course she’s known this for years. Guys ogle; girls look uncomfortable. There are always the exceptions, of course, but most people find it hard to be blasé, to not react in some way.

She gets patted on the back for being professional about it, which is funny because she never got patted on the back for being professional about kissing Ben. She’s supposed to enjoy kissing Ben, even though making out with someone when there’s a whole bunch of people watching and it’s the sixth or seventh time she’s run through the scene isn’t exactly what she’d call fun.

She probably should be sick of her scenes with Olivia by now, and the truth is that in some ways she is, because it’s all so structured and they have to be careful not to go too crazy because the censors are breathing down their backs and the letters are already flooding in from outraged viewers, but in other ways she likes it, despite everyone gaping because the lesbian storyline is being played out and it’s supposedly a big deal.

She talks to Olivia about the scenes beforehand; they talk about motivation, character development, how it all fits together. Sometimes she thinks this is a good idea, and other times she wonders why they do it, why they prepare so much, why they feel like they have to justify these kisses to themselves when the only justification anyone really needs, when it comes down to it, is the fact that it’s written in the script.

It does mean, however, that kissing Olivia for the cameras is very much rehearsed, well thought out, and nothing like kissing her when the cameras aren’t rolling and it really is just the two of them, with no one watching and telling them how professional they’re being.

Maybe it’s less of a cliché this way, if they can sufficiently distance themselves from their characters. The lips she’s kissing are the lips she’s had to kiss over and over, under bright lights and having her clothes adjusted every second shot, but far away from everyone else, it feels brand new.

No one telling them what to do or how to do it. They haven’t rehearsed this or tried to figure out where it all fits in the grand scheme of things, because she knows – and she knows Olivia knows – that when it’s not convenient, when they’re not working together anymore, when they can’t sneak off between scenes or hang around after everyone else has finished for the day, it’s going to end. No drama, no tears, no pretending that they’ll try to make it work when they know they won’t, can’t.

This doesn’t have to fit in with anything, it just is. They can just be, with kisses and caresses and sighs and smiles, where hands do the talking because words aren’t enough. And that’s probably a cliché too, she thinks, but that’s one she can live with.


End file.
